1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording head used in an ink-jet recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an ink-jet recording head that includes a reciprocating carriage, a recording head part and a pressure damper part, the recording head part and the pressure damper part being mounted in the carriage. The pressure damper part contains an ink and controls a pressure fluctuation of the ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, concerning an ink-jet recording apparatus for business use, it is necessary to prepare a large-capacity ink tank for the purpose of carrying out a large amount of printing, and the ink tank is mounted in a tank holder that is provided at a body side of the ink-jet recording apparatus.
Meanwhile, a pressure damper part that can contain a predetermined amount of ink is provided in a carriage on which a recording head part is mounted. The ink tank and the pressure damper part are connected by an ink supply tube.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-211688 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2009-184183 discuss such ink-jet recording heads having pressure damper parts.
FIG. 19 shows a general configuration of an ink-jet recording head in the related art discussed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-211688 or the like.
As shown in FIG. 19, in the ink-jet recording head, a recording head part 101 is mounted at a lower part in a gravity direction (a vertical direction) of a recording head and pressure damper assembly module 100 which extends in the vertical direction. A pressure damper part 102 is mounted above the recording head part 101 in the gravity direction in the recording head and pressure damper assembly module 100.
In the configuration of FIG. 19, the pressure damper part 102 has a case member 104 and an ink containing chamber 103 is formed in the case member 104 by a recess part 105 and a flexible film member 106. The recess part 105 is formed at a part of the case member 104 and the flexible film member 106 closes a front opening of the recess part 105. An ink fluctuation is controlled by the ink containing chamber 103.
An ink introducing part 107 is provided above the pressure damper part 102 in the gravity direction for introducing an ink into the pressure damper part 102 from an ink tank (not shown).
Further, at a center of the bottom end in the gravity direction of the pressure damper part 102, a tubular connection part 108 extends toward the recording head part 101 for supplying the ink inside the pressure damper part 102 to the recording head part 101. Meanwhile, above the recording head part 101, an ink supply needle 109 is provided to extend vertically. As a result of inserting the ink supply needle 109 into the tubular connection part 108, the pressure damper part 102 and the recording head part 101 are connected.
In the ink-jet recording head of FIG. 19, inside the recording head and pressure damper assembly module 100 mounted in a carriage (not shown), the recording head part 101 is installed at the lower part and the pressure damper part 102 is installed above the recording head part 101, and connection members such as the tubular connection part 108 and the ink supply needle 109 are inserted therebetween.
Usually, the tubular connection part 108 and the ink supply needle 109 are formed of synthetic resin molds, and do not have flexibility in themselves. Further, since the connection members are inserted between the recording head part 101 and the pressure damper part 102 as mentioned above, a space 110 inevitably exists between the recording head part 101 and the pressure damper part 102. As a result, the pressure damper part 102 is away from the recording head part 101 by the length of the space 110, and the height H of the recording head and pressure damper assembly module 100 is increased accordingly.
Recently, a demand has been increased for high-speed printing on paper sheets having large areas. For this purpose, there has been a tendency to increase the scanning range and the scanning speed of the carriage. In such a tendency, it is necessary to reduce the height H of the recording head and pressure damper assembly module as much as possible for the purpose of effectively controlling the pressure fluctuation in the ink contained in the recording head and pressure damper assembly module. However, it may be difficult for the ink-jet recording head shown in FIG. 19 in the related art to meet the condition.